N0168 Marine Hotel

A very early 00s suburban hotel bar - deep stuffed couches, a lot of dark blue (Marine blue, perhaps) to the decor, and a staid drinks list. 

That staid drinks list is matched by having very conventional tastes glassware; and for some reason this appeared to be driving other customers bonkers.

While my pint was being poured, a customer comes in asking for their gin to be poured in to a gin balloon - they had come back in to the bar from somewhere else in the hotel; having either left the bar with their Collins glass or had it brought to them. The bar did not have balloon glasses; or berries for garnish which was the next request - but a white wine glass and a second slice of lemon was sufficient for them.

In the time I was there, there was a further request for a balloon that was settled with a white wine glass - for a vodka and coke in this case - and a request to re-pour (again, someone left the bar and came back) a whiskey and ginger from a conventional whiskey glass to a Collins glass.

I was there for the time it took to drink one pint; and the place wasn't particularly busy. What on earth is in the water in Sutton that makes people so antsy about glassware?

The balloon vs Collins gin glass does remind me of an incident from the early days of the blog; when the bar woman in N1127 O'Neills of Lucan stated that she'd have poured a G&T in a Collins glass instead, if she'd realised "it was for a fella" - time has moved on since that I think everyone expects a balloon.